Carbon copy set consisting of uninscribed and/or inscribed sheets and/or forms

ABSTRACT

A carbon copy set includes a sheet having an elongated edge. An elongated strip of material having an adhesive coating thereon extending longitudinally of the strip on one side thereof is attached to the sheet at its elongated edge by a first portion of the adhesive coating. The strip is disposed such that an elongated edge of the strip and a second portion of the adhesive coating are positioned beyond the elongated edge of the sheet. The sheet and the elongated strip together present a combined sheet having the second portion of the adhesive coating exposed on one side thereof between the elongated edge of the first sheet and the elongated edge of the strip. The set may also include another sheet having an elongated edge. The combined sheet overlies the last mentioned sheet and is attached thereto by the second portion of the adhesive coating such that the elongated edge of the second sheet and the elongated edge of the strip of the combined sheet coincide.

The invention relates to a carbon copy set consisting of uninscribedand/or inscribed sheets connected along at least one edge.

Such carbon copy sets can be used for inscribing by hand or bytypewriter. They can also be used with printers, recorders or the like,especially with printers operating in conjunction with computers. Eachcarbon copy set can be drawn in individually or be secured to a carrierelement which passes the carbon copy sets one after the other to theprinter or the like.

A carbon copy set is already known (DE-GM 1 938 645) in which theindividual sheets to be inscribed have a separating strip formed by aperforated line. The sheets are connected with each other by means ofthis separating strip. Carbon copy sheets are placed loosely betweenthese sheets. Each sheet has a separating strip which is bonded to theother sheets by means of an adhesive. Disturbing edge marks alwaysremain along the separating line. The same applies by analogy for thecarbon copy set forth from DE-AS 1 611 5387.

The task of the present invention consists in creating a carbon copy setof which the individual sheets can easily be joined together.

This task is solved in accordance with the invention by a carbon copyset of the kind described at the beginning in that in order to join twoor more sheets, a strip of material is arranged along one edge of eachsheet which has one or more adhesive-coated regions on one side only andforms the connection between two or more sheets, whereby in each caseone region with a width ΔX1 serves to attach the strip of material to asheet and a second region with a width ΔX2 serves as the adhesive bondto the strip of material of another sheet, to another sheet or toanother carbon copy set.

In this way carbon copy sets with the desired number of copies can becombined, whereby the individual sheets of the set can be of differingsize, format or be differently printed.

The coating of the strip of material on one side only has, above all,advantages in that the production of such strips of material has beenknown for a long time and is a low-cost operation and that the handlingof such strips of material is simple, especially in the production ofcarbon copy sets.

In order to form a carbon copy set with two sheets, it is fundamentallysufficient to arrange a strip of material in the manner described aboveat one edge only, in particular at the head end, and to join the sheetsformed in this way together. However, it may also be expedient toarrange a strip of material alone or additionally, e.g., at theleft-hand side edge, which makes it possible to leaf through the sheetsjoined together to form a carbon copy set. Such a strip or strips ofmaterial can fundamentally be provided on each side edge of the carboncopy set.

The carbon copy set in accordance with the invention can further bedesigned in such a way that the strip of material has an adhesivecoating of an adhesive which can be separated without leaving anyresidue. With such an adhesive coating the adhesive bonds can bedissolved and joined together optionally at any time. In this way, eachsheet can be separated individually from the combined sheets. After thisthe strip of material can then either be removed from the sheet or beleft to reinforce the edge. Adhesives with the properties required hereare available in the trade and known, e.g., in connection with removableself-stick notes.

The carbon copy set in accordance with the invention can be designed insuch a way that the strip of material is subdivided into two separableareas by a longitudinal perforation. In this way, it is possible toseparate the bonded sheets of the carbon copy set from one another withjust a single action by detaching them at the perforation of the stripof material. Furthermore, the part of the strip of material still bondedto the sheet can serve as reinforcement for punching holes in and filingthe sheet, in particular when the strip of material is arranged alongthe left-hand side.

The carbon copy set in accordance with the invention can further bedesigned in such a way that the strip of material is arranged on thefront side of the sheet. If the adhesive-coated regions are selected insuch a way that the strip of material remains on the carbon copy setwhen a sheet is separated, it is possible to stick the separated sheetwith the inscribed front side on a wall, door or the like as a notice orinformation sheet.

The carbon copy set in accordance with the invention can further bedesigned in such a way that the strip of material of the last sheet of acarbon copy set has no adhesive coating in the region ΔX2. In this way,carbon copy sets can be stored on top of one another without stickingtogether. Furthermore, sets formed in this way are also suitable forbuilding up continuous form paper with continuous carrier strips.

The carbon copy set in accordance with the invention can further bedesigned in such a way that the carbon copy sets are arranged offsetalternatingly over one another by a length ΔL on their adhesive edge.Carbon copy sets built up in this way automatically form a block withgaps on at least two sides which facilitate selective grasping andloosening of a carbon copy set.

The carbon copy set in accordance with the invention can further bedesigned in such a way that the last sheet of the carbon copy set has nostrip of material and that this sheet is arranged in such a way at thecarbon copy set that it covers the whole adhesive region of the strip ofmaterial of the adjacent carbon copy set. This makes it possible tostore the carbon copy sets on top of one another without them stickingtogether.

The carbon copy set in accordance with the invention can further bedesigned in such a way that the format of the last sheet of the carboncopy set is longer or wider than the other sheets of the carbon copy setby the precise dimension ΔX3. This makes the surface area of the finalsheet available for inscription just as large as that of the othersheets of the carbon copy set.

The carbon copy set in accordance with the invention can further bedesigned in such a way that a row of holes is arranged in the strip ofmaterial or in the head region of the last sheet of the carbon copy setif this has no strip of material. This row of holes serves to guide andposition the strip of material or the carbon copy set.

The carbon copy set in accordance with the invention can further bedesigned in such a way that a perforated line is arranged along themiddle of the row of holes at the strip of material or at the last sheetof the carbon copy set if this has no strip of material, that the holeslie just completely within the region ΔX3 and that the strip of materialis not provided with any adhesive coating in the region of the row ofholes. When a carbon copy set designed in this way is detached bytearing along the perforation, it is easily possible to to grasp theremaining residues of the strip of material projecting over the edges ofthe separate sheets of the carbon copy set and to remove these from thesheet. Furthermore, a strip of material which is not provided withadhesive coating along its whole width is easier to guide and toposition in the production of carbon copy sets.

Finally, the carbon copy set in accordance with the invention, can bedesigned in such a way that the strip of material has an adhesive-freeregion for grasping the strip of material. In this way, the separationof the carbon copy set into its individual sheets and the detachment ofthe strip of material are simplified.

In the following part of the specification a few practical embodimentsof the carbon copy set in accordance with the invention are describedwith the aid of drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a carbon copy set in accordance withthe invention comprising four sheets,

FIG. 2 shows a partial view of a top view of one side of a carbon copyset with a strip of material which has two adhesive-coated regionsseparated from one another by a perforation,

FIG. 3 shows a partial view of a top view of one side of a carbon copyset with a strip of material which has two adhesive-coated regions and aregion free of adhesive between them,

FIG. 4 shows a partial view of a top view of one side of a carbon copyset with a strip of material which has only one adhesive-coated region,and

FIG. 5 shows a diagrammatic presentation of a carbon copy set with threesheets, which are connected detachably at their head end with two stripsof material with an adhesive coating on one side only.

The carbon copy set illustrated in FIG. 1 in accordance with a practicalembodiment of the invention has four sheets 1, 2, 3, 4. At its head 5,the sheets 1, 2, 3, 4 are joined together by four strips of material 6,each of which are provided with an adhesive coating on one side, whichmakes it possible to hold the sheets 1, 2, 3, 4 sufficiently safely onthe strip of material 6, but which, at the same time, allows the sheets1, 2, 3, 4 to be detached from the strip of material 6 free of residueand tearing. Accordingly, such a strip of material 6 is located betweenevery two sheets 1, 2, 3, 4 arranged on top of one another.

The strip of material 6 illustrated in FIG. 1 has an outer edge 7 withholes which is free of adhesive and which projects beyond the sheets 1,2, 3, 4. Adjacent to this is an area 8 coated with adhesive of which oneregion serves to attach the strip of material 6 to one sheet 1, 2, 3, 4and another region projecting beyond the upper edge of this sheet 1, 2,3, 4 serves to attach a strip of material 6 of another sheet. Finally,the area 8 is followed by an inner edge 9 free of adhesive. This inneredge 9 can easily be grasped in order to detach the strip of material 6from a sheet 1, 2, 3, 4. The outer edge 7 can also be used for the samepurpose.

The sheets 1, 2, 3, 4 are joined together in such a way, in accordancewith FIG. 1, that sheet 1 is attached by detachable adhesive bonding toa region of the area 8 of a strip of material arranged on the back ofthe sheet. Combinations of sheet and strip of material made up in thesame way are formed with sheets 2, 3, 4. These combinations can bearranged on top of one another and be bonded together with detachableadhesive in the regions of area 8 projecting beyond the sheets.

If the outer edge 7 alone is used for the compilation of the carbon copysets, it may be expedient to detach this outer edge 7 subsequently, sothat the strip of material 6 does not protrude outwards beyond theformat of the sheets 1, 2, 3, 4.

FIG. 2 shows a sheet 10 on which a strip of material 11 is arranged. Theregion 12 at the lower edge of the strip of material 11 is free ofadhesive. It serves for easy grasping and detaching of the strip ofmaterial 11. Regions 13 and 14 are provided with an adhesive coating.Region 13 serves to secure the strip of material 11 to the sheet 10.Region 14 serves to secure the combination of sheet 10 and the strip ofmaterial 11 to a combination produced and in the same way or a similarway. This region 14 can also be used to attach the combination toobjects or surfaces, like the known self-stick notes.

Sheet 10 is drawn from the reverse side in this presentation, so thatwhen the combination is stuck to a door or the like, the front side ofsheet 10 can be seen.

Regions 13 and 14 are separated from one another by a perforated line15. In the case of a carbon copy set which is built up with strips ofmaterial 11 formed in this way, all the sheets can be separated fromeach other in a single action by tearing along the perforation 15. Thestrips of material remaining on the sheets can either serve asreinforcement for punching holes in the sheet and filing it, or they canbe removed completely.

FIG. 3 shows a sheet 16 on which a strip of material 17 is arranged. Thestrip of material 17 has a region 18 coated with adhesive to which thesheet 16 is secured. This is followed by an adhesive-free region 19. Arow of holes 20 is arranged in this region 19 which has a perforatedline 21 in the middle. The adhesive-free region 19 and the row of holes20 serve for better handling of the strip of material 17 and the carboncopy set during mechanical production of the combination (sheet; stripof material) and of the carbon copy set. Finally, the strip of material17 also has a region 22 coated with adhesive, the function of which isidentical to that of region 14 protruding beyond the sheet in FIG. 2.Here, too, the reverse of sheet 16 is illustrated.

FIG. 4 shows a sheet 23 on which a strip of material 24 is arranged. Thestrip of material 24 is to be seen by way of analogy with the strip ofmaterial 17 in FIG. 3. The combination in accordance with FIG. 4 can beplaced on top of a combination in accordance with FIG. 3 in order toform the bottom sheet of a carbon copy set which then has no uncoveredadhesive-coated region. The following applies: adhesive-coated region 25corresponds to 18 in FIG. 3; adhesive-free region with row of holes 26corresponds to 22 in FIG. 3 and the perforated line 27 arranged in themiddle of the row of holes corresponds to 21 in FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 shows a carbon copy set with the sheets 29, 30, 31 which isjoined together by means of two strips of material 32, 33 indiagrammatic form. The strip of material 32 is connected with the sheet29 via an adhesive-coated region 34. It has a second adhesive-coatedregion 35 which produces a connection with the strip of material 33arranged beneath it, which, in turn, is connected with the sheet 30 viaan adhesive-coated region 36. The sheet 31 intended as bottom sheetprotrudes by the dimension ΔX3 beyond the other sheets 29, 30 at thehead of the copy set. In this area, it is bonded with an adhesive-coatedregion 37 of the strip of material 33. Carbon copy sets formed in thisway can be stored anywhere without sticking together. Furthermore, sheet31 and the strips of material 32, 33 have a row of holes 38 and aperforation line 39 for fast separation of the carbon copy sets.

I claim:
 1. A carbon copy set comprising:a first sheet having anelongated edge; a first elongated strip of material having an adhesivecoating thereon extending longitudinally of the strip on one sidethereof, said elongated strip being attached to said first sheet at itselongated edge by a first portion of the adhesive coating, said stripbeing disposed such that an elongated edge of the strip and a secondportion of the adhesive coating are positioned beyond the elongated edgeof said first sheet, said first sheet and said first elongated striptogether presenting a first combined sheet having said second portion ofthe adhesive coating exposed on one side thereof between the elongatededge of the first sheet and the elongated edge of the strip; and asecond sheet having an elongated edge, said combined sheet overlyingsaid second sheet and being attached thereto by said second portion ofthe adhesive coating such that the elongated edge of the second sheetand the elongated edge of the strip of the first combined sheetcoincide.
 2. A carbon copy set as set forth in claim 1, wherein saidsecond sheet comprises a second combined sheet, said second combinedsheet including a third sheet having an elongated edge and a secondelongated strip having a said adhesive coating on one side thereof, saidsecond portion of adhesive coating on said first strip adhering to theother side of the second strip.
 3. A carbon copy set as set forth inclaim 1, wherein said second sheet comprises a bottom sheet.
 4. A carboncopy set as set forth in claim 1, wherein said adhesive coatingcomprises an adhesive material which can be separated from the secondsheet without leaving any residue.
 5. A carbon copy set as set forth inclaim 1, wherein said first elongated strip has a line of perforationstherein extending along the strip between said portions of adhesive. 6.A carbon copy set as set forth in claim 1, wherein said first sheet hasinscriptions on one side thereof and said first strip is attached tosaid one side of the first sheet.
 7. A carbon copy set as set forth inclaim 1, wherein said first strip of material has an adhesive-free zoneto facilitate grasping of the same.